In an article published on Monday on InsuranceNewsNet.com, Cyril Tuohy quoted New York-based financial advisor David Edwards:

“The clients have very high expectations about how we’re going to serve them.”

Tuohy elaborates about this aspect of financial services marketing:

Chat windows, faster policy statements, intuitive agent portals and robotic technologies are among the new generation of weapons insurers intend to use to compete with “born-digital” companies.

Instant Responses

This may not mean an answer about life or annuity insurance approval, but it does mean an answer to a query about it. Or financial services marketers may need to answer a long-time customer’s question. What the Amazon era means is the insurers should answer those questions quickly, even with a response of not yet being able to answer the question, such as: “We’re working on finding an answer as soon as possible and we value your business.”

Tuohy says:

“Digital marketing and customer engagement was the most commonly demanded capability among life and annuity insurers, according to a survey published last month by Novarica, an insurance IT consultancy.

“Prevailing in digital marketing and customer engagement is considered even more important than overcoming speed-to-market or product-change challenges, wrote Novarica CEO Matthew Josefowicz.”

Underwriters Need to Speed Up

Millennials expect fast service and, if they don’t get it, Amazon may soon provide it for them, Tuohy writes. The article quotes Naveen Agarwal, SVP and chief customer officer for Prudential, as predicting Amazon will enter this aspect of the financial services race.

Tuohy cites progress in underwriter speed:

“For underwriters of life insurance policies with face amounts of $400,000 or more, the average cycle time has decreased from 52 days to 44 days over the past nine years, according to the consulting firm Celent.

“For policies with face amounts of $400,000 or less, average cycles times have gone from 42 days to 33 days over the same period, the report found.”